//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4- I'll go... 
// Story: Celestial Academy 
// by RhetCon 
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Incident 4- “I’ll go…”

I stood outside of the door to Luna’s office, paper clutched in my hand. Leaning against the door alleviated the pain, so I did. After a few minutes, a familiar click clacking brought me back to my feet. As I suspected, Fleur turned the corner, stopping as soon as she saw me.
“Oh, you two are done,” she said. “I was just coming to check on how things were going.”
“Yeah,” I said limping away. “Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s getting pretty late-”
“Why do you keep doing that?” she asked, stepping in line with me. 
“Doing what?”
“Walking like that.”
“I’m in pain,” I said in an obvious tone. 
“Hm,” she hummed in thought. “You humans must be frailer than us ponies. A normal stallion would’ve recovered by now.”
“Thanks for making me feel better,” I said sarcastically. “Anyway, I might as well tell you that your demands were not met.”
“What do you mean?” she asked in confusion. “Was there some sort of compromise?”
“Not really a compromise, per se. More like your demands were flat out ignored.” She stopped walking along with me, her mouth open in surprise and offense. “Sorry, but I tell it how it is.”
“Preposterous!” she yelled. “I will report this to Princess Celestia immediately!” she stomped her foot on the ground. “Think you can ignore me? Well, I’ll prove I’m not someone to be ignored.”
“Fleur,” I said. “Calm dow-”
“Don’t you tell me to calm down!” she yelled. “You don’t know!”
“I don’t know what?” I asked, trying to keep my voice down. I didn’t know what time it was, but I’m sure it was late. 
“Just… nevermind!” she yelled before stomping off in another direction. “Know this, human. You may have earned the Princesses favor, but I will not go unspoken.” She turned the corner and disappeared, the clicking and clacking fiercer than before.
“Sometimes I wonder…” I whispered to myself before turning and heading in the direction of Twilight and Lyra’s room. After stopping in front of it, I knocked on the door to see who was inside. I heard quite a bit of rustling before Lyra’s familiar voice came around.
“Who is it?” she said, with a chuckle. 
“Aj,” I answered.
“Aj?” said Lyra from the other side of the door. “Aj the pizza delivery guy?”
“Of course,” I said with the utmost sarcasm. “What other Aj do you know?” After a few more chuckles, I heard the door unlock, Lyra emerging in a yellow pair of pajamas.
“Welcome home!” she said in an inviting tone. “How was you talk?”
“Great actually,” I said as I walked in and took my place on the floor. “More importantly, why didn’t you guys tell me it’s Halloween tomorrow?”
“Heh heh, about that…” said Lyra softly. “Twilight, I’m going to a party that day. I can’t go with you.” At that, Twilight, who was peacefully reading her book closed it quietly and sighed. 
“Well that goes my plan for Halloween,” she said. “Thanks Lyra.”
“Y-you’re not gonna hold a grudge, are you Twi?”
“Hmph,” she said putting her book to the side. “I don’t suppose you would have something to do Aj?”
“As a matter of fact, I do,” I said showing her the flyer. “Luna gave it to me. “
“Hm....” She hummed as she read over the flyer. “Seems like fun. However, as it is 10 o'clock and tomorrow is Monday, I will be seeing you two in the morning.” She laid herself out in her light purple t-shirt and gray sweatpants before turning towards the wall.
“I think I’ll hit the sack too,” I said, laying my back on the ground. “At least my body will feel better in the morning, right?” 
“Maybe,” said Lyra as she stretched herself out  similarly to Twilight before laying down on her bed. “See you in the morning.”
“Night.”

Usually when I fall asleep, I don’t have any dreams. If I do, I’ve never noticed them as more than black voids and thoughts.
This was similar. I seemed to be walking through a dark and damp space. My body felt very tired as I walked, my footsteps becoming heavy and loud. 
I couldn’t focus. Everything in my brain told me to go forward. Knowing that fighting it would take more work, my body complied. Soon, I saw a large circle of light beam down on the floor. Naturally, I headed straight towards the light like a moth. As I closed in on the light, A figure started to appear. Someone was tied up.
“Who… is that?” I asked myself. “Hello?”
“A-Aj?” asked a familiar voice. Twilight’s voice.
“Twilight?” I asked. “Is that you?”
“Where are you? I can’t see-” I heard her lurch as if she was choking. I pushed my body to the fullest as I ran towards her. 
“Twilight?!” I yelled. “Can you hear me?!” the choking sound continued. I ran as fast as I could, my muscles screaming under the pain. As I finally reached her, Twilight hung from her hands, completely unscathed. Before I could even raise an eyebrow in confusion, something stabbed me from behind. I could see no blade, but I coughed up blood nonetheless.
“Aj!” screamed Twilight from her binds. I tried to call back, but only blood returned. Before my vision completely blurred a blue ghostly woman appeared, a small smile on her face.
My vision soon returned. I was laying on the floor of the dorm, my body drenched in sweat. I wasn’t sure of what time it was, but I was sure that I didn’t get any sleep. I rubbed my eyes and pulled my phone out of my pocket.
“I:17 AM.” I recited. I thought about going back to sleep, but the dream was still fresh in my mind. I turned towards Twilight was still sound asleep in her bed. I sighed, got up and went into the bathroom., washed my face and looked in the mirror. “What am I supposed to do this early in the morning?”
Suddenly a large thump sounded out. I dried my hands and opened the door to the dorm. Other than Twilight and Lyra moving over in their beds, nothing stirred. I walked to the door and opened it, revealing a fallen Fluttershy.She looked over me before looking away and blushing.
“S-sorry for w-waking you up…” she stuttered. 
“What’s keeping you up?” I asked “It’s pretty early.”
“N-nothing!” she said. “I-I wasn’t-”
“Whoa, whoa, I’m not accusing you of anything,” I said. “If you don’t want to talk, it’s okay.”
“T-That’s not it,” she said. “I did want to talk…”
“First, let’s get you up,” I said extending a hand. “Then, tell me what you wanted to talk about.” She reluctantly took my hand, helped herself up and took a quick breath.
“I w-wanted to talk to you about Arct,” she said quietly. 
“What about-” I remembered what Luna said. “Nevermind, don’t worry. Whatever happened, happened.”
“O-okay,” she said. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright. You looked pretty beat up.”
“Trust me,” I said with a chuckle. “It’ll take more than a few punches to take get me down and out.” She smiled, one of the most beautiful smiles I’d ever seen. I couldn’t help but blush.
“That’s good to hear,” she said. “And… that’s not the only thing I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Uh, yeah?”
“You wouldn’t… happen to be doing anything for Halloween would you?” 
It was at moments like these when only one word came to mind when I thought of a response.
Damnit.
“Uh, actually, I’d told Twilight I’d go to a haunted house with her… sorry,” her smile dropped to a smaller, yet still adorable one.
“Oh, okay then,” she said. “Haunted houses aren’t for me. Maybe you’ll join me when you get back?”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said eagerly. “Uh, I mean, I’d be happy to,”
“Okay then,” she said. “I’ll… see you around.” I don’t know why I did, but I grabbed her in a tight hug before she left. She hesitated before wrapping her hands around me as well. We stayed like that for a few seconds before I let go.
“B-bye.”
“See you around,” she quickly walked towards her dorm as I turned back into the dorm room where Lyra lay with her eyes opened and a smile on her face.
“Awkward hug is awkward,” she said in a sleepy state.
“What?” I asked. “How long have you been up?”
“Every since you started talking,” she said. “So, Aj, you getting a piece of that?”
“Shutup,” I said. “Go back to sleep.” She laughed before rolling over and going back to sleep. I took a shaky breath before laying back down and going back to bed. I sighed before laying myself back out on the floor. I put my head down and smiled. Early Halloween was one of the best I’d ever had. 
Too bad it wouldn’t last long.

“Uh,” I said, holding my neck as I woke. “What happened?”
“I don’t know, but it may be because the way you slept,” said Twilight. “You head was very… slanted.”
“Hey, Twilight.” I stretched out. “What time is it?”
“It’s 6:23,” she said. “I don’t know what time the house opened, but I didn’t want to wake you.” She wore a purple sweater vest with a white dress shirt underneath complete with a tie. As she stood up from her bed, I could see she wore a navy skirt 
“You’re...going in that?” I asked. “Not too intimidating.”
“Oh, is this wrong?” she asked in a worried manner. “Should I change? I did not prepare to change.”
“Calm down,” I said. “Don’t worry. You don’t have to go as anything, I guess.”
“Oh. Okay then, I’ll go as that.” She stood up and closed the book she was reading, extending her hand to help me up. “Are you ready to go?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said. “I wonder how long this will take.”
“I don’t expect it to be long, but I do expect a good show,” she said. 
We left the dorm and eventual the dorm rooms. Heading towards Point St, I could see that the sun was going down and the lights for the holiday go up. We waded through the people until we came to a large bronze gate. 
“This is the start of the college, by the way,” she said. “You’ve never been here, have you?”
“No,” I admitted. “This is actually the first time I’ve been past Point St.”
We continued walking outside of the gates. Twilight seemed to know where we were going, so I followed her. Finally, we found a two people standing outside of a large squarish building. One stood with a suit on while the other stood with a large circular wheel that you’d normally see if you were playing bingo. As we approached, the man in the suit smiled wide.
“Ah, our very first customers,” he said with excitement. “Unless of course, you are just passing by?”
“Is this the haunted house?” I asked as I pulled out the paper in my pocket. “This haunted house?”
“Ah, yes, then you two are our first customers.” He pointed to his companion. “Come now. My friend here will draw a ball from this machine. If the ball is golden, you win a trip to the abyss!”
“The abyss…?” I said skeptically. “What exactly is the abyss?”
“The abyss is the area below this warehouse,” reported the woman holding the machine in a monotone voice. “It’s a large underground burial site. Since we’re renting out the place, we were given a heads up by the actual owners that we could use it for our attraction.”
“Sounds… dangerously untested,” said Twilight. “Although, I doubt we’ll get this golden ball first, right?”
“Maybe,” I said with a shrug. “It’s worth a try.” The woman placed the machine on the ground and began to spin it around. When the balls had enough momentum, she stopped, all of them settling down in one place or another. The woman turned around and made a small grunting sound.
“Well would you look at that,” she said showing us the ball we got. “First try and already we’re down 1 golden ball. Congratz.”
“Hm,” hummed the man in thought. “Guess it’s just Halloween magic at work then. Follow me.” We both followed the man inside the dark house, a large illuminated trail showing him where to go. At the end, there was a large black space. We walked along the left wall until he came to a few creaky boards and stopped. “Here we are.”
“Where are we?” I asked. “I don’t really see-” 
The floor gave out, scaring the heck out of me. My back was sliding on something cold and metal before giving way to dirt. After a few seconds, we went into a freefall, the ground smacking into me at a very fast speed, nearly knocking me out. After coming back to my senses, I shakily rose to my feet.
“What the hell was that about?” I said to myself. I looked around, finding Twilight on the floor next to me.
“Ah,” she said in pain. “My head… it hurts.”
“Welcome to my world,” I said. “Come on. It’d be better for us to just get this over with-”
“Hello!” said a voice loudly in my ear. “Are you two my new playthings?” I turned quickly to my left, a ghostly woman floating next to me.
“Who are… oh, I see,” I said. “You’re part of this charade, right?”
“Charade?” she asked in confusion. “I don’t know what you mean mister.”
“You’re not part of this haunted house?”
“Well, not particularly,” she said with a chuckle. “I am haunting these grounds.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” said Twilight. “Ghosts don’t exist.”
“Somebody needs a reality check,” said the ghost. “Do me a favor and pinch her for me.”
“No. Just tell me who you are,” I said bluntly. “Then tell us how we can get out of here.”
“Ooh, bossy,” she said. with another small laugh. “Okay then. My name is C. C for Cassandra, but nobody calls me that anymore. Nobody calls me anything anymore.”
“Um… okay?” I said skeptically. “My name is Aj. This woman to my right is Twilight Sparkle.”
“Hello there Cassandra.” She did a backflip in what I could only assume was excitement.
“Okay, now that we’re all acquainted,” she said. “You two can follow me.”
“Are you actually going to lead us out of here?” I asked with hope in my voice. 
“Yes! What kind of friends would we be if we didn’t help eachother out!” She started flying towards the darkness. “It’s quite a ways away, so if we hurry, it won’t take us more than 15 minutes.”
“Great then,” I said following her. 
We walked through the darkness, the ghost’s light showing us where she was and where to go. Every few seconds, she look back at us and giggle. Twilight, suspicious that she was planning something sinister, had falled behind me. After a few seconds, the sound of whirring blades came into earshot.
“We’re almost there,” she said with another disturbing giggle. “I can hear them from here!”
“What is that?” I asked with a bit of worry in my voice. 
“What does it sound like?” she said, her smile creeping up on her face. Once she stopped, the sound of whirring apparent, I dropped my jaw. Thousands of saws were running several feet below three pillars in an illuminated room.
“W-what is that for?” said Twilight. “Y-y-you’re not gonna-”
“Make you jump for my enjoyment?” asked Cassandra. “You know me far too well.”
“B-but you said you’d help us out of here,” I said with a shaky voice. “You said it would take fifteen minutes.”
“Oh stop crying about it,” she said fading into the ground. “And it will only take 15 minutes. Just do your best as fast as you can and you’ll be out in no time.” She completely disappeared, leaving us to our own thoughts. I looked at the blades, rusted and dirty, and gulped.
“Okay Twilight,” I said in a reassuring tone. “We should take our time.Can you see the end?”
“Y-yes,” she said with an equally as shaky voice.
“Do you think you could teleport over there?”
“I...I’ll try,” she said taking a large breath. “What about you?” 
“Can you move two people at once?”
“I can do it, but only once,” she said. “It takes a lot of magic to do it.”
“Then conserve your magic,” I said, my voice becoming firm. “We don’t know what we’ll be facing, so I need you in tip top shape, alright?” Her eyes widened in fear.
“But what if… what if you miss?”
“Then tell Fluttershy and Lyra I got sent back home,” I said. “They have no reason to worry about me.” She looked as if she wanted to argue, but I took a deep breath, and jumped to the first pillar, landing directly in the middle of it. It stood in place surprisingly well. “See, nothing to be-”
As if Cassandra set out to mess with me, the pillar lurched in one direction before lurching in a different one. The first one knocked me off of my feet and the second one sent me rolling into the spikes. Using the momentum from the slide and quick thinking, I pushed of the second pillar and instantly jumped to the third. I jumped down onto the platform and turned around, taking my first breath since I did all of that.
“Okay!” I yelled in excitement and fear. “Teleport over here Twilight!”
“O-okay.” She closed her eyes, disappeared in a flash of purple light and appeared a few inches from where I stood now. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay, just very, very scared.” I said. “Sorry, am I weirding you out?”
“No, I’m fine,” she said. “To be honest, I’m a little scared myself.”
“You passed!” said Cassandra as she popped up next to me. “Congratulations! Let’s go on to the next challenge.”
“Wait, I have a question,” I said, my hype going down. “Who are you? Why are you here?”
“Hm…” she buzzed. “How about this. If you complete everything, I’ll tell you.”
“Deal.” I said. “Where is this next place?”
“Heheh. Eager, are we?” she said with an infamous giggle. “Follow me then. I’ll lead you there.” 
The walk was short in reality but seemed so long. Twilight seemed like she was trying her hardest to stay as close as possible. Eventually, I grabbed her hand, shaking and cold, wrapped it in my own, and gave it a squeeze.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be out soon enough,” I assured her. “Then you have laugh it up with Lyra when we get home.”
“Yeah,” she said with a gulp. “When we get home.”
“Okay, here we are,” said Cassandra. Before us lay a long glistening path. It looked as if it was lined with crystals. “This here is the hall of whispers. It’s a 100 foot long hallway. Shouldn't take you too long, right?”
“Right,” I said. I walked in, Twilight following suit. “We’ll be in out in 5.”
“I’ll be watching,” she said, fading into the floor. I turned and continued down the hall.
“What is it with you two?” asked Twilight in the darkness. “You two seem to have become friends all of a sudden.”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I’m just chummy with people, I guess.”
“Oh…” she said. “I guess that’s why you and Fluttershy hit it off so well.” She sighed. “If you went with her instead of me, we wouldn’t be in this situation.
“Yes, but why would I do that?” I said. “I made you a promise and I intend on-”
“You’re too kind,” said Twilight. “You should've left me for dead back at those saws…”
“What?”
“W-what?” she said. “Did you hear something?”
“Didn’t you just… nevermind.” Twilight stopped.
“I… I am smart…” she whispered.
“What do you mean? I know you’re smart, you don’t have to tell me that.”
“Stop it!” she yelled. “I… I… I’m not a failure.”
“You’re not! What are you…” I started to realize what was happening. “Twilight, can you hear me?” Tears started to well up in her eyes. 
“No… I…” her eyes started becoming unfocused. “I’m… not a failure.”
“Listen Twilight,” I said with a long breath. “You are one of the smartest ponies or people I’ve ever known. You excel most other people fall short and quit. Hell, even I’m not as resilient as you are.” I shook her a bit. “Did you hear that? That was praise, not punishment.”
“Yeah… yeah I heard you.” she said as she slowly returned. “Thanks Aj. You’re too kind.”
“You’re welcome, now let’s-”
“I don’t know why you’re mother would leave such a nice boy,”
My heart nearly stopped. Breathing became very hard and Twilight’s eyes showed confusion. 
“No… it’s just an illusion-”
“Oh, did I hit a nerve?” she said in a voice that wasn’t hers. “Did your mother hate you or something?”
“No...s-she didn’t.” I said. “Twilight, please, ignore everything I’m saying… please.”
“Your mother, huh? Let’s take a look here…” It sounded like someone was picking things from my mind. “Severe Schizophrenic and Alzheimer's.”
“She could never remember me…” I said almost uncontrollably. “I was her son and she…” I let go of Twilight and went to the nearest wall. I pressed my hands against it and slammed my head against it. “Get out!”
“No, no, I can’t do that. I’m just getting started,” it searched around some more. “Ah, it said she was cured. Went to go work for a company by the name of Alesso, did she?”
“Get out, get out, GET OUT!” I screamed, slamming my head against the wall with more and more ferocity. The ghost seemed to get louder and louder with every smack.
“Ah, I see now. She was ripped off. Left high and dry in the Alesso Company, the place she loved so much. She loved it so much… that she named one of you after it… she named… you after it…” The voice was fading with my consciousness. I felt blood dripping down my face, but my eyes hurt so much I knew I was crying too. I didn’t stop myself from wallowing.
“She killed herself…” I said. “She killed herself and it’s all that dumb company’s fault.”
“Aj…” said Twilight behind me, her original voice coming back to me. I felt her hand on my shoulder. “I-I’m sorry. Sorry you had to relive that.”
“I don’t know how many times I’d heard that. I thought I’d heard them all.” I stuffed my hand into my eyes to try to wipe of the blood, sweat, and tears I’d produced. “But…I thought I was done with being sad, angry, tired. I thought I’d move on…”
“Wow,” said Cassandra from beside me. “Somebody’s a cry-” I slammed my fist into her ghostly figure as hard as I could, my fist passing straight through her. She reformed a few feet away. “Wow, I can see I’m not wanted here.”
“No,” I said, my hand shaky and my voice shakier. “Get me out of here so I can wash all this off. Wash it… away.”
“Hm,” hummed Cassandra. The hallway contracted and pulled itself towards us, the end becoming closer. “You were supposed to go for longer, but I can see that you want this to be done. Alright, I can comply. Follow me for the final test.”
“Whatever,” I said, regaining what little composure I had left. “Whatever gets us out faster.” We walked again, me following the ghost and Twilight following me. Unlike before, I didn’t reach out to comfort Twilight and she didn’t reach out to comfort me. Finally, in the middle of the darkness, there was a door. A normal push door that says exit. I sighed, the exit literally in sight.
“Now, for the final test.” she said turning around. “It’s quite simple really. And easy choice.”
“What kind of choice?” asked Twilight. 
“It’s a choice of life,” she said, a sadistic smile plastering her face. “One of you will die here. Who you pick is completely up to you. I’ll even give you as much time as you need to-”
“I’ll go,” I said with a monotone. “I should've known that you were going to do something like this.”
“N-No!” said Twilight. “You can’t just die! After all she put us through-”
“I’ve decided Twilight. If I anyone had to die here, this night, it’s going to be me.”
“But-”
“Cassandra,” I said, cutting her off. “Go on. Kill me.”
“Yes, of course,” she said raising her hand. “But first, I’ll let her leave.” Before Twilight could say anything, she was whisked through the door, the door disappearing after she entered it. “Now, she won’t bear witness to your death.”
I thought this would happen differently,” I said. Weren’t you going to tie her up and make her watch?”
“I was, but after hearing what you said about your mom, I’d figured that your companion had enough spooks for one day.”
“Yeah but enough stalling,” I said spreading my arms and legs out. “Do what you will.” She put her hand to her forehead and saluted.
“Sayonara,” she stuck her hand right in my chest before ripping something out. Already exposed to pain, it wasn’t very painful. “Now you’ll replace me. Do some spooky scarings in my name will-” A large light erupted from behind her, blinding me and taking her attention from me. Through this light came one of the most awesome things Twilight still denies I saw.
Twilight walked into the room, lighting the space up the space. I was dropped to the floor, Cassandra too focused on Twilight. She was covered in a bright aura making her difficult to look at. Her eyes were a blinding white, her facial expression: anger.
“W-what are you doing?” asked Cassandra showing honest worry. “There is no way you could’ve overpowered my magic!”
She didn’t even respond. Putting her hand out, she grabbed a hold of her and slammed her onto the floor, despite her being a ghost. She took her other hand and pointed at me, my strength and spirit re-joining me.  I slowly ascended from the spot. Twilight steadily made her way to Cassandra, Cassandra showing a bit of fear in her face.
My vision was replaced. Instead of white I was shown a sepia background. It wasn’t reality, just an image. It showed a young girl, her parents arguing and fighting while she played outside. Another image showed her being pushed around by others. More and more pictures showed up showing sympathy to the girl until one particular one was stopped on.
It showed Cassandra, alive with a match in her hand. She proceeded to throw the match at her house, a devilish smile occupying her face. Another image,showed her getting into a lot of fights, each one ending up with someone else in the hospital. Cassandra enjoyed the violence. She wanted more and more.
But one image showed her end. She’d been shot after getting into a huge bar fight at 24 years old. She was laying in a pool of her own blood, the same scared face on her.
I returned to the room, my body the only thing stopping Twilight from doing anything to the ghost. I turned towards Cassandra, my face in a frown.
“I swear Cassandra, if you put me up to this,” I said shaking my head. “Anyway, I see that you were neglected, shunned, bullied, all that jive.”
“So I had to teach them a lesson!” she yelled back. “They all hurt me, so I should hurt them back!” I sighed, believing that I was about to say what I did.
“Just because it happened to you doesn’t mean you can do it to others, dumbass!” I yelled. “That makes you just as big of an ass, if not bigger than them!”
“What do you know!”
“What do you think I did when I found out Alesso was the reason my mom killed herself? I went straight up to their headquarters and tried to revolt. I was arrested on a count of assault, battery, and damage of property. Did that make me feel better?”
“W-Well-”
“Of course not! If it hadn’t been for my family, I would’ve ended up like you. A vengeful spirit.” I put my hand out. “But it’s not too late for me to be that family you so desperately needed. All you need to do is be loved.”
“It’s too late for me…” she said. “I’m dead. No one can save a dead person who’s stuck.”
“Oh yeah?” I reached out and pulled her up, her ghostly body suddenly able to be pulled. “I beg to differ.”
“What are you-” I put my hand on her face and brought it to mine, locking our lips in a kiss. The kiss was soft and short but it was enough to get the point across. After breaking apart, her face was plastered in red, she slapped me across the face.
“I guess I shouldn’t have been that excited,” I said. “But do you get it? Allow people to love you.”
“Yeah, I got it!” she yelled. “A smile came to her face, one that was actually nice. “Anyway, those talking walls were right. You are far too nice.” She looked back towards Twilight who happened to be looking away in embarrassment . “When she gets back to normal… take care of her alright? You two make a nice couple.”
“Yeah, yeah, just go already.” I said. She turned and faded in the bright light, her body being brought up in a very angel-like fashion. After she was gone, the light in the room dissipated. I turned just in time to catch a collapsing Twilight. Hauling her up and over my shoulder I headed out into the bright light of the early morning.
“Silly girl.”